The 2024-25 Budget: Proposition 98 and K-12 Education

Feb 15, 2024 - This minimum requirement also varies by grade span, from 180  minutes (for kindergarten) to 240 minutes (for grades 9 ‑12). Charter schools do not have any required amount of daily instruction, while COEs have minimum daily minute requirements that vary based on instructional  setting.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4839

Review of the Funding Determination Process for Nonclassroom-Based Charter Schools

Feb 29, 2024 - Unlike school districts, charter schools do not have a daily minimum instructional minute requirement for school days. (The daily minimum instructional minute requirement for school districts varies by grade span, from 180 minutes for kindergarten to 240 minutes for grades 9 ‑12.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4870

How Small Is Too Small? An Analysis of School District Consolidation - How Small Is Too Small? An Analysis of School District Consolidation [Video]

An Analysis of School District Consolidation May 2, 2011 In this webcast (approximately 10 minutes), analyst Rachel Ehlers discusses the LAO report How Small Is Too Small? An Analysis of School District Consolidation .
https://lao.ca.gov/Videos/Player?playlistId=78

The 2026-27 Budget: Proposition 98 Guarantee and K-12 Spending Plan

Feb 4, 2026 - A revenue decline of this magnitude would reduce the Proposition  98 guarantee by about $8  billion. In such a scenario, the state could likely maintain existing programs, but would have to reject many of the Governor ’s proposals.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5110

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool

Mar 19, 2026 - On January 8, 2026, California and the other states sued to prevent the freeze. A federal court initially granted a temporary restraining order that was followed by a preliminary injunction, ordering that funds continue to be available pending resolution of  the case.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5168

The 2026-27 Budget: Re-Envisioning State Education Governance

Mar 18, 2026 - Considering Adding Legislative Appointees to the SBE. The Legislature could consider adding two legislative appointees to the SBE. These appointees could enable greater legislative oversight of the new governance system and ensure the SBE ’s policies are consistent with legislative intent.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

Assessing a Shift to Enrollment-Based School Funding

Jan 6, 2026 - Although the state collects and publishes chronic absenteeism data for all students, the chronic absenteeism rates reported on the dashboard only include data for students in grades TK  through  8. Dashboard Assigns Performance Levels for Statewide Indicators.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5100

The 2021-22 Budget: Public School Restrooms Feminine Hygiene Products Mandate

Mar 1, 2021 - To derive the new per ‑student block grant rates, we recommend increasing the high school rate more than the K ‑ 8 r ate, as the mandate applies to all high school grades but only a portion of grades K ‑8.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4392

The 2017-18 Budget: Proposition 98 Education Analysis

Feb 9, 2017 - To derive the new per ‑student block grant funding rates, we recommend increasing the K ‑8 rate more than the high school rate, as five grades in the K ‑8 grade span are tested whereas only one high school grade (eleventh) is tested.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3549

The 2026-27 Budget: Fiscal Outlook for Schools and Community Colleges

Nov 19, 2025 - Figure  8  shows how much the minimum guarantee could differ from our projections based on variations in General Fund revenue. For this analysis, we examined the historical relationship between previous revenue estimates and actual tax collections, then calculated the guarantee under the different revenue scenarios.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5093